CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/25/2021

Rizzoli Bookstore presents Peter Kayafas in conversation with Sasha Wolf for the launch of 'Coney Island Waterdance'

Thursday, September 9 from 6–7:30 PM EDT, Purple Martin Press, Artbook | D.A.P. and Rizzoli Bookstore invite you to the launch of Peter Kayafas: Coney Island Waterdance. Author and photographer Peter Kayafas will appear in conversation with noted gallerist, author and PhotoWork podcaster Sasha Wolf. Please note that this is an in-person event requiring pre-registration and proof of vaccination (see details below).

This collection of 30 photographs by American photographer Peter Kayafas depicts people swimming in the ocean at Coney Island, a location that has long served as a source of inspiration and fascination for artists. Made over the course of many summers in the 1990s and 2000s, and one particular winter during which Kayafas was a member of Coney Island’s legendary Polar Bear Club (the oldest winter bathing club in the United States), the photographs are filled with energy, movement, grace, and a surprising intimacy. Using a waterproof camera, hidden just below the ocean’s surface, Kayafas captures candid snapshots of unsuspecting beachgoers. His focus on the swimmers over a period of two decades provides an extended insight into the elemental relationship people have with water.

PETER KAYAFAS is a photographer, publisher, curator and teacher who lives in New York City where he is the Director of the Eakins Press Foundation. He is a Guggenheim Fellow (2019), and his photographs have been widely exhibited, and are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; The New York Public Library; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the New Orleans Museum of Art; and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. He has taught photography at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn since 2000 and is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation of Yaddo. Peter Kayafas: Coney Island Waterdance (Purple Martin Press, 2021) is his fifth monograph.

SASHA WOLF has been a gallery owner and artists' representative in New York City for 20 years. She represents 17 photographic artists, whom she advises and collaborates with on exhibitions, book projects, grant proposals and career goals. Sasha is a frequent reviewer and lecturer for leading art institutions, universities and fairs, and conducts workshops around the country on professional practices and project development. Sasha’s book, PhotoWork: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice (Aperture 2019), is in its third printing. She currently hosts a popular podcast of the same name. Prior to her work in the fine art photography world, Sasha was a writer, director and producer in the film and television industries and an award winning short filmmaker. Her last short film, Joe, was nominated for the Palme d'Or du court métrage at Cannes and has screened all over the world.

RIZZOLI IN-PERSON EVENT COVID POLICIES:

In-person events will be presented to a fully vaccinated audience at full capacity. All attendees are required to wear masks. All patrons over the age of sixteen will be required to show proof* of having completed the COVID-19 vaccination series at least 14 days prior to the date of the event.

*Proof of vaccination will be defined as either an original vaccination card or an Excelsior Pass.

Registration will be required. Please register here!

Rizzoli Bookstore
1133 Broadway
New York, NY 10010